Posts Tagged ‘“Desmond Is Amazing”’

What are the media doing canonizing an 11 year-old for doing a drag routine in a gay bar?

The point of this story is not the courage and individuality of an 11-year-old. There are plenty of positive ways one could capture a story about an 11-year-old’s gender journey than having the child having money thrown at him while he does a drag queen inspired strip at a pub.

And my objection has nothing to do with the fact it was at a gay bar and that the boy is a drag queen.

My objections are as follows:

Doing a drag show is fine when it’s adults participating – not children. Drag shows are highly sexualised in nature and children should never be a subject of sexualised activity.

The fact that money was thrown at him is sick. It is a pedophilic act and it is totally unacceptable. To then celebrate this response as a a symbol of the child’s ability to entertain an audience is downright irresponsible. I would feel exactly the same way if it was an 11 year-old girl at a straight pub.

Watching the ABC’s treatment of this story in the video above makes me wonder how serious the media are about protecting children from the dangers of being represented as sexual beings.